Woods was outstanding off the tee, often eschewing his driver for his 3-wood or 5-wood and consistently finding himself in the middle of the fairway with managable approach shots.

He mostly avoided bogeys (except for No. 18), something that can send you spiraling out of control in a hurry at this golf course. A prime example of this was on the famed No. 17, where Tiger shelved his tee shot on the top right of the green and had a lengthy 55-foot putt that he lagged beautifully. It could have turned into a four (or worse), but Woods cleaned up his par and marched on to No. 18.

We've talked about Woods and McIlroy and this faux rivalry that we've created for them for quite a while now. But on a gorgeous Thursday at the Players, they delivered equally outstanding rounds.

They're chasing Castro for now, but they're both right where they want to be. And wouldn't it be sweet to get a little Tiger-Rory action on the weekend. Stay tuned and take a look at the tweet below; we could be in for a show at the Players.

This is the 55th time Tiger Woods has opened a @pgatour event with a score of -5/better. Went on to win 23 of prev. 54 times (42.6%).